Burial-casket



No. 620,542. Patented Feb. 28, I899. C. M. BRENNAN.

BURIAL GASKET.

(Application filed July 19, 1898.)

(No Model.)

' NlTED STATES PATENT O OFFICE.

CHARLES M. DRENNAN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

BU RIAL-CAS KET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 620,542, dated February 28, 1899.

Application filed July 19,1898. Serial No. 686,846. (No model.)

To (all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES M. DRENNAN, of Boston, county of Suflolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Burial-Caskets, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, likeletters on the drawings representing like parts;

This invention has for its object the production of a novel burial-casket composed, preferably, of sheet metal.

The casket to be herein described is so constructed that it may be hermetically sealed, especial provision having been made by which to effect that result.

The main part of the cover and body are each made, preferably, of a single piece of sheet metal made from a blank suitably notched or cut away to provide for the desired outline of the cover or body, the blank so notched being thereafter subjected to the action of suitable dies, whereby the box-like shape may be imparted to the cover or body, the edges left by notching the blanks being by such operation brought together to be soldered firmly together.

The upper edge of the body of the casket is provided with a flange, which is shown as of two thicknesses of metal to thereby afford additional stiffness and a finished smooth edge, said flange occupying, as shown, a substantially horizontal position.

Prior to this invention it has been attempted to turn the edge of the cover of the casket inwardly under the flange at the top of the body; but it has been found impracticable, and consequently I have applied to the cover an angle-iron having substantially parallel lips, one of which is secured to the interior of the cover, while the other is left long enough to enter the interior of the body to make a close fit, and I have also added a series of metallic sealing strips or ears, they being carried by the cover and attached to the interior thereof, preferably between the angle-irons having the lips and the cover, said sealing-strip being free to be bent upwardly under and so as to embrace the flange of the body, thereby making it possible to leave the lower edge of the cover smooth and finished uniformly, which could not be done when the edge of the cover is bent upwardly under the flange of the body, as heretofore provided for.

Figure 1 shows a burial-casket embodying my invention. nal section thereof, the dotted lines showing the sealing strips or ears in their normal position before being bent up. Fig. 3 is an en larged detail showing part of the flanged upper end of the body with part of the cover and the angular strips or ears, and Fig. 4 is a section of a part of the cover with a modified form of angle-iron attached to it.

The burial-casket herein to be described will be composed, preferably, of sheet metal, and it will be made of two blanks, one for the body A and the other for the cover B. These blanks while in sheet form will be notched or cut away at suitable points Where the body or cover is to present corners or seaming mi= ter joints, and thereafter the blanks will be subjected to pressure in suitable dies or otherwise and the beading shown may be formed, this beading being susceptible of change in many different ways, according to the design which it is desired that the casket may have. After this beading has been completed the edges a a and b b of the body and cover are brought together and united by solder securely, so as to make an absolutely tight joint. The upper edges of the body before the corners referred to are soldered together are flanged outwardly, as at a, and inturned, as at o to thereby leave a stiff rigid flange.

The cover of whatever cross-section will have a terminal edge, as b, and inside this cover I attach an angle-iron C, it presenting, preferably, two parallel lips a c, with a connecting portion 0 between, one of the parallel portions being suitably united to the interior of the cover, as in Figs. 2 and 3,while the other lip c, it depending inside the cover, passes within the interior of the flanged upper edge of the body, and preferably either the connecting portion a of the angle-iron or the flange will be grooved to receive a suitable luting or packing, which will form an absolutely air-tight joint, so as to hermetically seal the casket against any passage 01' leakage of gas. As shownin Figs. 2 and 3, this luting may be laid on the top of the flange in quantity and the cover may be applied, and as the Fig. 2 is a partial 1ongitudi-- cover comes to a seat on the luting the said luting is compacted firmly and rearwardly in the joint between the angle-iron and the flange.

At suitable intervals I apply between the portion of the angle-iron and the interior of the cover a sealing strip or ears 01, said strips or ears being somewhat separated one from the other and of any desired number, so that said ears when the cover has been applied to the body and it is desired to seal the same hermetically may be turned from the dottedline position, Figs. 2 and 3, up into the fullline position firmly against the under side of the flange.

If desired, the downturned portion 0 of the angle-iron instead of being cut 03, so that its end terminates within the body, as

in Figs. 2 and 3, may be extended upwardly,

as in the modification, Fig. 4E, and again flanged outwardly to rest against the under side of the cover, as at 0 where it will be again attached to the cover by suitable solder, thus making a very firm and rigid angleiron and at the same time affording an additional brace for the cover.

I have provided a portion of the casket, preferably the cover B, with one or more valve-stems 6, having removable covers 6, so that after the casket has been hermetically sealed I may, if desired, pump or force any antiseptic or preserving gas or fluid into the metallic casket.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1. A casket-body having a laterally-extended flange at or near its upper edge, a cover, an angle-iron secured to the interior of said cover and having a depending lip to enter the open top of the body inside of its flange, and

a retaining ear or ears supported inside said cover and adapted to be bent inwardly under the flanges of the body to retain the cover in place, leaving the edge of the cover in its finished condition, substantially as described.

2. A casket-body having a laterally-extended top flange, a cover having a depending finished edge, an angle-iron secured to the interior of the said cover air-tight, and a series of retaining-ears interposed between a lip of said angle-iron and the interior of the cover at the junction of the angle-iron with said cover, said ears being adapted to be bent upwardly under the flange of the body to retain the cover seated with the horizontal part of the angle-iron resting on the horizontal part of the flange at the body, substantially as described.

3. Acasket-bodyhavingalaterally-extend ed top flange, a cover having a depending finished edge, an angle-iron secured to the interior of the said cover air-tight, and a series of retaining-ears interposed between a lip of said angle-iron and the interior of the cover at the junction of the angle-iron with said cover, said ears being adapted to be bent upwardly under the flange of the body to retain the cover seated with the horizontal part of the angle-iron resting on the horizontal part of the flange at the body, a groove being formed between the horizontal part of the angle-iron and the horizontal part of the body to receive luting, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

CHARLES M. DRENNAN.

Witnesses:

JOHN C. EDWARDS, AUGUSTA E. DEAN. 

